Peyton's Ride (Riding With The Hunt, #1) (7 page)

Stamina.

Not sure if she should slide from his back or not, she craned her neck and tried to check out the rest of the camp. Laughter rose from a circle of men around one fire, music and singing from around another. Only a few children were visible, and less than half the camp’s visible denizens were women.

She didn’t have long to worry over the questions bubbling up, because Ian changed back to his human form underneath her.

One moment she sat astride an enormous horse, the next he had her cradled in his arms.

“Oh!”

He grinned and laughed. “Gotcha. Welcome Underhill.”

Stunned, she traced his cheek with her fingertips. He’d always been handsome, so attractive that she’d been caught staring at him more than once. But now, bathed in Fae magic and grinning at her...her heart stopped beating for a moment, and her mouth went dry. “Underhill? Really?”

***

P
eyton stared at him, her eyes reflecting the will o’ the wisps and lanterns around them, lips parted.

“Yes, really. Breathe sweetheart.” Because she was so close, he kissed her, long and slow, like he had nothing else to do for the rest of his life.

Her arms coiled around his neck, and she became more aggressive, demanding, and he had to give her what she wanted. When the rut almost overtook him, threatening to strip him of the ability to think, he wrenched his mouth away from her.

“Peyton, we have to talk.”

The words were a splash of cold water. She put her hands in her lap and averted her eyes. A few swear words leaked out of his mouth, and she smirked at him before smoothing her gown.

“Maybe you should put me down. I’m not exactly light.”

A growl vibrated through his throat and arms. “No. I could hold you all night, all day, for weeks if need be.” The ingrained need to protect and claim her drove him to pass through the tent’s open flaps away from curious onlookers’ sight. This was their business, his and Peyton’s, and he’d be damned if he’d share it with others. “I need to talk to you about what it means to be a steed of the Wild Hunt.”

“Uh, okay...”

Inside the tent, the runes cast their multi-colored glow through the fabric to light up the mound of soft furs and cushions dominating the far wall. A low trunk rested on the right, its top covered with assorted fruits, meats, and beverages. A small, squat bellied fireplace dominated the left with a basket of wood next to it. His kinsfolk had prepared a beautiful welcome home for him and his mate.

If she accepted him.

“Wow...Ian...this is so gorgeous. Can’t you feel all the love in here? Whoever put this all together for you, they love you so much.”

“They wanted to welcome me home. And to make you feel at ease too.” His heart warmed at the wonder and joy in her voice, and a sense of pride in her as well for picking up the emotions left behind by the other Fae. “Your magic is emerging, sweet.”

Shock registered on her face, she stiffened, and he waited until she relaxed in his arms again.

“That’s really neat.” Muscles in her throat worked, and her lips curled, eyebrows drawn down. Thinking. “Okay, so...Daegus told me to choose a mate. And I went right to you. Does that mean that I picked you?”

“That’s what I need to talk to you about.” Ice crawled up his spine, and he realized he was more afraid now than he’d been at the dealership when she’d been on the verge of death. “You did choose me. But you can still un-choose me, if you want.”

Seconds ticked by, seconds that had the weight of hours.

“I’m a little scared...It’d be a lie if I said I wasn’t. I mean, mates...that’s forever right? And if we’re Fae, forever is a really long time.” Big honey-colored eyes met his, and she skimmed his lower lip with her fingertips. “I was so excited to leave on my trip, just dying to be free of everything...and now my life’s been turned upside down.”

“Fae mates are forever, but not because they are forced to be that way. The magic is never wrong.” The pout in her lower lip begged to be sucked and bitten, so he took it between his teeth and obliged. Gods, his cock was hard... “As a steed of the Hunt, I went into rut about five years ago. Right before I moved to Travers. Manannan forced me out because I wasn’t finding my mate among the Hunt, and I ended up in Georgia with you.”

Their breath mingled, and she whimpered, squirmed in his arms, and licked his lower lip. Was the rut affecting her too?

“Listen to me, love. I need you. I know you don’t love me, it’s too early for that. But my magic wants you. It led me across the country to find you. And then went dormant until today.” A scalding wash of lust and fire flowed from the crown of his head down to his toes. He strode to the pile of furs and went to his knees, laid her down. The sparkling blue gown stood out among the cushions. “If you decide later that you don’t want me, we can break the bonds between us...but for tonight, say you’ll be mine.”

“I just want to be free.” The generous mounds of her breasts nearly spilled out of the top of the low-cut gown, and the slits in the skirt revealed the smooth flesh of her thighs and hips. Her gaze traveled over him from his head to his thighs, and back up to his groin. His cock bobbed and thickened even more under her regard. “Promise me you won’t cage me in.”

“Never.” He covered her with his body, careful to keep most of his weight off her torso. Gods, he needed her. All the years of his life in Travers boiled down and reduced to this evening with Peyton. He knew now for certain she’d brought him there. Finally, she was free of the human restraints that had held her back. The magic had waited in him, and he understood now what his father tried to explain to him so long ago.

The magic of the Wild Hunt was chaos and unfettered energy, but intelligent and not without purpose. Within the chaos was direction and focus. The magic drove him out, to bring him home again.

With his mate, the one person in creation perfect for him.

He leaned in close and kissed her, used his tongue to stroke hers with long, slow glides.

She sighed and snuggled in closer, all soft curves and sweet breath. The fragrance of gardenias wafted from her hair. He forced himself to gentle his grip on the back of her skull and slid his other palm over one full buttock. The urgency of their kiss remained, but he slowed down and led her into a more intimate duel. One less focused on plunder and more on seduction.

Strawberry colored nipples beckoned to him, but he returned instead to kissing her and kept his hands in more neutral territory. He sucked on her earlobe. She moaned and twisted her head around, exposed the long cords of her neck to his teeth. He licked from the hollow at the base of her throat back to her ear.

He brushed his lips across her with a whisper light touch until she snarled at him.

“Quit teasing me Ian. I’m trying to prove I can do the whole cougar thing and you’re wrecking it.” She guided his hand to the hard point of her nipple.

“Hate to break it to ya babe, but you’re not a cougar.” He thumbed her peak and kissed his way from her mouth to her cleavage, biting and sucking as he went. He hooked his fingers under the straps of her gown and tugged them down her biceps, the fabric gathered under her breasts and framed them. 

The pink tip of her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. “I’m not?”

“No.”

“Damn,” she huffed and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I was so proud of myself, too. Getting it on with Mr. Tattooed and Pierced Sexy Pants. Now you went and ruined it.”

A pair of lacy pink panties still concealed her pussy. He kissed the inside of her knee and licked the inside of her thigh, skipping up to her chest. The rosy skin of her areola disappeared inside his mouth, and he teased the other with pinches and flicks. The head of his cock prodded at the satin of her underwear, and he rolled his hips to slide the underside of his shaft over the front of her mound.

“Did I?” He canted forward again, using the barbell through the head of his cock to add to the tease. “Tell me how to make it up to you.”

“Uh...you fucker.” A soft moan escaped her lips, and she lifted her hips in response to his tease.

“You have a very dirty mouth, Peyton Reynolds.” He leaned down near her ear and she bit him, sending a sizzling twinge of pleasure/pain through him. “I think I like it.”

The wet crotch of her panties betrayed how aroused she was. He stroked her lips through the material.

“Do you? You know what I like?” She poked one finger into his left nipple ring and twisted it just enough to sting. A pulse zinged his cock from balls to head, and he worked his way under the elastic of her waistband. “I like...your piercings.”

“I used to have more.” He circled the tight bead of her clit, continued lower to dip inside her entrance, and spread her juices over her hood. She gasped and rocked her hips. “Should I re-pierce my tongue?”

“You are...such...oh...” He stroked up one side of her clit, down the other, over and over, ignoring the bundle of nerves itself. Her pupils dilated. “Don’t tease. I need more.” She twisted his piercing again and towed him in for a kiss. “Touch me Ian. Deeper. More.”

An overwhelming need he hadn’t experienced since the rut first manifested over took him. He fisted her panties and ripped them off in one explosive jerk. The furious drive to claim her, to bury his dick inside her as far as he could and spill his cum deep crested and grew stronger.

He spread her lips and framed her clit, squeezed the flesh as he penetrated her with the tips of his fingers. Gliding lower, he applied pressure to her hood as he delved in deeper. The muscles in her thighs tightened, and she squirmed her hips closer. Her tight inner walls grabbed and fluttered with each plunge and retreat.

She wrapped his shaft in her tight grip and pumped him, playing with his piercing each time she got to the head of his cock. The friction she provided almost sent him over the edge, so he shifted out of reach. Nothing less than seeing her come apart completely would do. He had to make her come so hard she forgot everything but him. Everyone but him. He intended to make her crave his touch...to imprint himself on her, to sear the sensation of his cock inside her into her memory so her clit swelled, and she masturbated thinking of him.

“Peyton,” he rotated his hand in a circle, and she bucked so that the heel of his hand ground into her hood. “I want to taste you. Is that alright?”

“Oh fuck yeah. I don’t even care if you’re a cannibal,” she groaned and grabbed him by the hair.

“What?” Laughter rose up and he raised his head to meet her eyes.

“Earlier...I was obsessed with biting you...I started to think...”

He couldn’t help it. A deep chuckle rolled out of him, and she threw one arm over her face.

“Oh never mind.”

Loving her would be so easy. As natural as breathing, as the magic that flowed in his veins, and the wind in his mane. She squirmed to move away, grumbling under her breath, and he stilled her by gripping her hip with one hand.

“Where are you going? I’m hungry.”

The first taste of her cream addicted him. He started at her entrance and went all the way up and over her clit, then licked both labia with the flat of his tongue. Each swipe brought more of her juices to him, and he couldn’t get enough. He tongue-fucked her and circled her ass with the wetness from her pussy. She gasped and jerked, but when he did it a second time she twined her fingers in his hair and cried out in pleasure.

In slow degrees, he penetrated her ass as he fingered her pussy and sucked on her clit. Her moans grew louder, the grip on his hair tighter, more insistent. Finally, a shudder rippled through her, and she creamed on his hand as she came. He kissed her clit.

“I like hearing you come. But I think you can be louder than that.”

“What?” She lifted her head and stared at him.

With both hands, he gripped the gown at the side hem and popped the seam up to her armpit. The tiny strap snapped, and he tossed the length of fabric to one side, revealing her curves fully.

“Manannan is going—”

Her words cut off on a deep groan. He closed his mouth over her clit and finger-fucked her hard, curling his digits and exploring her until he found her G-spot.

“Ah!” Her hips bucked up hard, and he feathered his fingers over her, using his tongue and teeth until she came again, screaming over and over. “Ian.”

He didn’t stop until she lay limp, her muscles twitching weakly. “Now, that’s a beautiful sight. I like hearing you yell my name. I’ll have to make you do it again.”

“Huh?” She cracked her eyes open and blinked a few times.

There was nothing more pleasing that seeing a woman knocked senseless with sex. Moving up her body, he cupped both of her breasts in his hands and kissed each before burying his hands in her hair and tipping her chin up to claim her mouth for a kiss. The slick folds of her pussy teased him as the head of his cock tunneled between them and nudged at her channel. She gripped his shoulders and sighed into his mouth.

With a careful, measured thrust, he seated the head of his shaft inside her. Their eyes locked and he moved forward again, waiting while she wriggled and adjusted to him.

“That barbell in your cock...I think it was your best idea ever.” Pleasure hazed eyes reflected his face back to him.

“I’ve had a few decent ideas. Here and there.” Rotating his hips in a semi-circle, he twisted one of her nipples, a deep satisfaction sucking him under when her eyelids fluttered closed.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “I think you’re going to ruin me for any other man.”

He lowered his head until their noses touched. “Good.”

Territorial possessiveness overtook him, and he slid the rest of his length into her, unable to wait any longer. For the first time in his long life, every single inch of his shaft was inside a woman, and he trembled at the new, intense sensation. The walls of her pussy cradled and tortured him at the same time.

He bracketed her face with his arms, slid out slow, and back in again swift and hard, angling his hips and dragging his cock over her clit.

“Is that good?”

Frown lines deepened on her forehead, and she whimpered, her breath leaving her lips in explosive puffs with each forward pulse. He pushed her legs up and out, holding them beneath her knees, and she muttered sweet, dirty expressions in the Fae language.